Joy in Jackson

Bill and I left Sunday, June 15th for a week long trip with yes, just the two of us! We felt so blessed to be able to take this trip to Jackson, Wyoming. We decided to split the 11 hr drive in 2 so Sunday night, after dinner with my brother, Adam, in Provo, UT, we stayed with our friends, the Williams, in Pleasant Grove. It was nice on the drive to not have to entertain or help the kids. When we wanted to stop, we did, and got Blizzards at DQ... YUMM-O! The next morning, because no kiddies were tugging at our toes, we woke around 8:30 or so and headed up north to finish the trek. We drove up by way of Pocatello, ID and even stopped for a late breakfast there. It was absolutely beautiful. We pulled into the parking lot saying to each other that we should maybe come back through here if we ever go to Jackson again, the kids would love it. We stepped out of the car to run in to the restaurant, it was raining, and we both started laughing... it smelled like we were back at the pig farm in North Las Vegas. After talking to the restaurant manager, who hadn't seen it so pretty there in the 30 years he'd been there, we decided maybe it wasn't the destination to seek out. And so started our trip. We won't know until next time how jaded we were this time by all the beautiful green scenery that quenched our desert dehydrated eyes. Everywhere we drove we were amazed at how beautiful and green everything was. I'm glad for the unseasonable amount of rain.

On to the trip. The whole trip was made possible by Katherine, Bill's aunt on Tiger's side. She has a condo in Teton Village which is the ski resort at the base of Jackson Hole ski park. We finally go there and to say it was beautiful would be a huge understatement. To me, it was an outdoor paradise waiting to be explored. We found the condo, with some help, we honestly don't know how we didn't see it???!, and got unpacked, showered and dressed. We needed dinner. The interesting thing about the village is that it comes pretty close to shutting down

around spring and was just starting to pick back up when we got there. We walked around the village, decided that we didn't want to spend $30/entree and drove towards town. We ended up at "Q" a BBQ place on the side of the road that was really quite good. Bill's burger was the most perfect burger in existence. Unfortunately the yummy fries didn't find there way into the doggie bag. We spent the evening working on a puzzle that we had brought with us... 2000 pieces was not my idea!

Tuesday morning I woke to Bill doing his workout routine, I walked over did my pull ups, joined him for the abs and called it good. I went outside to only have to pick my jaw up off the floor. Paragliders were landing in the field behind the condo! I wanted to do it so badly but it was $250 so next time we'll save accordingly. (Oh yeah, the second we got our of the car we were already talking about when we were going to come back.) We had borrowed our friends' mountain bikes, so we jumped on and hit the road. It wasn't anything to make extremists turn their heads, but we were having fun just being Bill and Rachel, not Mom and Dad. Bill admitted that he was quite impressed with my biking ability/endurance, he said this as he walked up the hill behind me. I explained that biking and running are two completely different animals. Later that day we headed to town, Jackson and walked through all the shops. Not before getting me my birthday present though. I've been really eyeing the sandal Keens for hiking. I love them. Thank you honey!!! The town was fantastic and the shops were fun. We did some grocery shopping at Albertson's, rented a movie, Taken, and mailed postcards to the kids. With some more work on the puzzle our day was spent.

Wednesday was a much anticipated day. We went horseback riding in the mountains with a guide from the local saddle company in Teton Village. They told me that they had been seeing wildlife on all the morning rides so I booked the first one out, 8am. Bill on Trojan and Me on Redman. Bill did great. Redman, well he was definitely getting his digestive system working. He did not want to keep up with Bill and the guide, but I suppose it was a good thing we brought up the end because he was farting the entire time! I couldn't help but laugh. One time I could swear that he even burped. I don't think horses burp, but Bill said his horse didn't fart and it came from in front of me. It was fun, but after an hour we were glad to give our kiesters a rest. We tried to get some rest for the next part of the day, water rafting.

I had told Bill that I don't so much care what we do as long as we get to go rafting. Before we took our trip we searched online for rafting companies and could only find one that did trips so early in the season. We booked it in early May. When we got to the shop, it was very cool and we were very nervous as to how cold we were going to be. (The whole week we were there it didn't get above 70, and usually hovered in the mid-60's.) The rafting was SOOO AWESOME! They had given us splash suits and Bill and I got to sit up front. We were drenched head to toe and at the end our fingers and toes were numb. My fingers were so numb I couldn't even get my splash guard off. Just before getting off the river it started raining, and got to pouring very quickly. We followed the van driver to the top of a hill running as much as we could to get out of the rain. One of the rapids that we had gone over was called "lunch counter". The guide had been talking ths series up pretty good and preparing us for quite the thrill. We were hoping so badly to not be disappointed... and we were not. It was such a thrill. We got so much air on one of the rapids, I was screaming and Bill's face was... indescribalble. He was having the time of his life, as was I. We definately need to start doing more of this stuff.

Thursday we decided to make the drive up to Yellowstone National Park to see the sights and to experience Old Faithful. What an incredible place, all made possible because of Old Faithful! When the geyser was discovered the government agreed to make it and the surrounding area a National Park. Did you know that the water that shoots up out of Old Faithful is 500 years old?! The water in this picture has been sitting under ground for 500 years waiting for it's turn to marvel the onlookers. (Talk about patience.) I was so amazed at the knowledge that was shared with us by the park ranger, I wondered why I never had wanted to be one myself. (It's incredible what you find to be interestng when you're older.) Like the actual "hole" in Old Faithful is 18 feet down and is a circle 4 inches in diameter. That is why the blast is so powerful. Also, that all of Yellowstone is the inside of a volcano! That blew my mind. The whole park is the inside of a once active volcano and the ridge line is ancient lava flow! WOW, so incredble! The picture of Bill and I was in front of a hot spring. It was next to the largest in the world, but this picture caught the incredible color a bit better. These pools of water were a magnificent blue outlined with awesome colors of rust and teale. The depth was amazing and if one could get directly over, it seemed as if you'd be looking to the center of the earth. We took a hike back to Fairy Falls and of course it started raining about 1/2 mile into our what we thought was a one mile hike. I wanted to go back, Bill convinced me that the rain would stop. I gave in and we started to run. The elevation must be so much higher than we're used to 'cause we tired out much sooner than we would've expected. Or at least I did. (Even if the elevation isn't a reason, it's a good excuse.) The trail was actually 2.5 miles and well worth it. I was so thankful for Bill's seemingly infinite knowledge of meteorology. He was right more than once about the rain and cloud cover. And really, when you don't have kids, who cares if you get rained on. It did make it that much more enjoyable knowing that it just didn't matter. I will admit that a couple of times I looked up, while running, fretting the idea of a torrential down pour. The falls were very beautiful and the 2.5 miles back was an enjoyable hike. Aside from the beautiful scenery we were also blessed to be able to see all the big game that I was looking forward to. These bison were simply on the other side of the road as I timidly yet determinedly clmbed out of the car to get a better picture. Beautiful. Driving to the park we went through the Tetons Park and saw a prong horned antelope, elk, and moose. The moose were great. We saw a young bull one day and a momma and her baby two days in a row. (The baby was hiding the frst day, but in clear site day two.

Friday was our trip to Jenny Lake. What a great place. Such a beautiful piece of nature. Once again we hiked back to some falls, Hidden Falls. AMAZING! 5 mles round trip much more "hikish" than the "walk/run" we had the day before. Up and down hills around the coastline of the lake. Every step made a perfect pictue(unfortunately this was the time I was able to stop Bill with his quick hike pace and take a picture of the beautiful lake with a dead tree.) Bill's pace is insatiable. The man does not slow down. His hiking is much like his driving. He keeps going faster and harder until he finds someone to pass. Slows down long enough to figure out how to get around them and then off we go again 'til the next hiker. We did stop one other time on the trail to the falls to watch a grizzly bear trounce through the field across the gorge. This hike definitely left us more winded and tired. But the falls were ten thousand times better than Fairy Falls. Massive amounts of water gushing over the jagged cliffs thrusting down into the river below. I could've watched them all day long.

I could write words like amazing, awesome, beautiful, and incredible but none of them seem to do our experiences justice. It was so great to be with my husband in such a great place doing such great things. We love to be outside and we love to be active and feel and to be young. Everything we did, down to the 2000 piece puzzle was great. If only we had an extra hour to finish...maybe next time.

We left Saturday, my 30th birthday after a relaxing morning. We stopped by my brother's place in Provo where we were both treated to a fantastic birthday dinner of Chicken cordon bleu with a family favorite, Frogeye Salad, and "don't forget the peas", says Adam. It was decicious. Adam, I felt so spoiled. Great job! We stayed the night with my Aunt Yvonne and her family in Orem and then headed home Sunday in time to meet up with the kids and Gee for Sacrament meeting on Father's day. What a sweet reunion that was.